Who doesn't love a Cahill Christmas?
by NatalieKfan
Summary: Amy and Dan invite the former clue hunters to their mansion for Christmas.  Dan has some plans to make someone miserable.  Warning: Chaos
1. Chapter 1

**Hi! This is my first chapter story, so please let me know if there is anything I can do better. CC is welcome. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own the 39 clues.**

* * *

><p>It was a beautiful winter day, just two weeks before Christmas. Amy had just finished reading, <span>The Little Princess<span>, for the third time. Everything was perfect, and nothing could ruin the moment. "No!" shouted a voice from down stairs. Well, Nothing except for Dan. Amy got up from her comfortable recliner in her room, and headed downstairs to see what was going on.

On normal days, Nellie would cook delicious pancakes, Fiske would quietly read the paper, and Dan would be... Dan. Today wasn't one of those days. Dan and Nellie were arguing with Fiske.

"What's going on?" asked Amy.

"Your uncle Fiske decided to invite all the clue hunters to our house for Christmas!" cried Nellie.

"Nellie, please lower your voice. Mr. McIntyre and I agreed that it would be nice for the family to get together." Fiske said.

"Nice?"

"The family needs to bond, so what better time to do that then Christmas?"

"But, Fiske, why this Christmas, why not next Christmas?" asked Dan.

"If we don't do it this year, chances are that we won't do it next year."

"Exactly my point."

"We are inviting them this Christmas, end of discussion."

Fiske hardly ever raised his voice, but when he did he meant business. Nellie, Dan, and Amy immediately stopped arguing, and went to find a phone so they could invite the family.

* * *

><p>"Rock, paper, scissors, shoot!"<p>

Amy, Dan, and Nellie were playing "rock, paper, scissors" to see who had to call who.

"I win!" Dan said.

"No you didn't," said Nellie, "Paper doesn't beat rock."

"Yes it does, Nellie."

Nellie punched Dan in the arm, knocking him off his chair. "See? Rock does beat paper."

Amy laughed and wrote Dan's name next to the name "Kabras" on a piece of paper. Nellie had to call Alistair, Dan had to call the Holts and the Kabras, so that left Amy with the Starlings and Jonah.

Dan dialed Ian's number. _" Why do I have call the Cobras?" _ He thought. One ring, two rings, three rings, "_Please don't answer. Please don't answer." _

"Hello," said a silky British voice.

"Natalie, why did you answer Ian's phone?" Dan asked.

"Because he was too busy to answer it. Why did you call, Daniel?"

"It's Dan, and I called you because Fiske and Mr. McIntyre want us to invite you to a Christmas party."

"Why would I come?" snapped Natalie.

"I was hoping you wouldn't."

"Natalie, who's on the phone?" came a voice from Natalie's phone.

"Our annoying cousin Daniel," Natalie said, not bothering to put the phone on mute.

"What does he want?" asked Ian.

"He invited us to a party."

"When?"

"Fiske told me to tell you to come tomorrow, and stay till Christmas," said Dan over the phone.

"We'll be there," said Ian.

"Whatever," said Dan as he hung up.

After all the calls were made, Amy and Dan were put on cleaning duty, and Nellie had to go shopping for food. Dan was also busy thinking of ways to make Natalie mad.

* * *

><p><strong>So what did you think? Please review, and remember CC is welcome. Thanks for reading!<strong>


	2. Chapter 2

**I want to thank all of my reviewers!** **It makes me so happy to when I get them! CC is still welcome. So here is my second chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the 39 clues**

It was 10:00 a.m., and already Amy and Dan had their first guests. The Holts came in with their purple coats and heavy suitcases.

"Amy, Dan!" said Hamilton as he gave them a bone crushing hug.

"Hi, Hamilton," came the strangled reply.

While Amy and Dan caught their breath, Nellie and Fiske grabbed some of the bags and led the Holts upstairs. After, Hamilton and Dan made a beeline for the arcade room, with Madison and Reagan not far behind. Amy went downstairs to read and wait for the other guests.

Just as she got comfortable, there was a large crash down the hall, but before she could check it out, the doorbell rang. Nellie ran out of the kitchen and told her to answer the door while she checked out the crash.

Amy opened the door to find the Starlings on the doorstep. They looked freezing so she let them in quickly. Just as they came inside, Nellie was rushing Dan, who had a bunch of blood on his face, into the kitchen to get the first aid kit.

"Never a dull moment at a Cahill reunion, even after you just get there," said Ned.

All four of them rushed into the kitchen to see what had happened. They found out that Dan had insulted Reagan's driving in Mario Kart, so she punched him, and he fell into the TV. Dan was just lucky that Hamilton could hold his sister back, so she couldn't hurt him anymore than she already had. After smacking Dan in the head, Amy showed the Starlings to their rooms.

Ned and Ted wandered off to find the others while Amy and Sinead waited at the door and talked about how annoying their brothers were. It wasn't long before the doorbell rang again. Amy opened the door, and Jonah came in with his dad.

"Hi Jonah," said Amy.

"Hey Amy."

Amy picked up one of the suitcases, and Sinead picked up another one to help her. Amy led the way to the Wizards' rooms. Jonah's dad stayed in his room while the three teens went downstairs.

When they got to the bottom step, they heard something that sounded like an explosion come from the kitchen. They rushed into the kitchen to find Dan, the Holts, Ned, and Ted hiding behind a table and some chairs. Jonah, Amy, and Sinead were too shocked to speak. Suddenly, Nellie burst into the room.

"What happened?" asked Nellie.

"Um, Ned and Ted were talking about one of their inventions that makes a mini explosion, so I asked them if they could show me it in the kitchen. The Holts came with us to the kitchen, and we experimented," explained Dan.

"So you're telling me that you ruined the kitchen, my favorite room in the house, because of a dumb experiment!" Nellie exclaimed.

"Y-yes."

"Seriously guys? Can one person come without some catastrophe happening? Nellie asked exasperated. "I'm done cleaning up your messes. Everybody sit by the front door, and wait for the next guest. No talking, moving, or anything!"

Everybody hurriedly ran to the front door to sit down. Nellie sounded so serious, that Amy, Sinead, and Jonah were too scared to tell her they didn't do anything wrong. Everybody sat in silence, not wanting Nellie to start shouting again.

A few hours later Dan was asleep, Amy, Sinead, Jonah, and Hamilton were whispering, and Ned and Ted were watching Reagan and Madison thumb-wrestle. Finally the doorbell rang. Nellie came out of the kitchen, and told them not to move. She opened the door, and Ian and Natalie came in.

"Why is everyone sitting by the door?" Natalie asked.

Before Nellie could answer, Saladin jumped on top of Ian, scratching and biting him.

"Are you kidding me?" Nellie shouted as she took Saladin off of Ian. "I have to watch the Cahill cat too? I quit!"

"See Nellie," Dan said, "we sat and did nothing, and something still happened."

Nellie stormed out of the room, and upstairs towards her bedroom. After Nellie left, Dan gave a treat to Saladin, and Amy got the first aid kit.

It wasn't long before Alistair, the last guest, came. Fortunately, nothing bad happened. Amy showed Alistair to his room, and the Cahill reunion had officially begun.

**How did you like the chapter? Were the characters too OOC? If you have any tips please put them in a review. **


	3. Chapter 3

**I am sorry it took me so long to update. Between school, Christmas decorating, and baby-sitting I hardly had any time to write. I did make this chapter longer than my other chapters, so please enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I still don't and never will own the 39 clues**

* * *

><p>At breakfast the next day, Fiske told the kids that they would decorate the house for Christmas. Nobody was very happy, but they didn't complain too much. After they finished their breakfast, they met Fiske and Nellie in the living room. They explained that the older kids would do the outside decorations, and the younger kids would do the inside decorations.<p>

"The bow is supposed to go over there," Natalie said.

"It's my house, I can put the bow wherever I want to put it," replied Dan, "and you're the one that put me in charge of the bows anyway."

"I put you in charge of the bows because I didn't think even you could mess those up. I guess I was wrong. Now put the bow where it's supposed to go, or I will shoot you with my dart gun!"

Dan moved it to where Natalie wanted it. He was one hundred percent sure that Madison and Reagan had voted for Natalie to be in charge of all the decorations just to annoy him.

Dan got off the ladder he was on, and moved it so he could put on the next bow. Natalie was putting the ornaments on the tree while Madison and Reagan were putting up lights around the room. Reagan "accidentally" bumped the ladder and the wobbling caused him to fall off onto Natalie. Natalie dropped the ball ornaments she had been holding; Madison stepped on one, lost her balance and fell.

Nellie walked into the room and stopped when she saw the mess.

"I'll go get the first aid kit," she said over her shoulder.

Fortunately there wasn't any major damage. Of course Natalie blamed Dan for the whole mess.

"Daniel, that's the last straw! We have to do something so that you won't cause any more disasters."

Natalie pulled out her dart gun, and shot Dan with a sleeping dart. Before they had started decorating, Madison, Reagan, and Natalie had talked about what they would do to Dan if he became too annoying. Madison grabbed the supplies they had stored in the closet, and they got to work.

* * *

><p>Ian, the Starlings, Hamilton, Jonah, and Amy were in the front yard decorating. Jonah was on the ladder putting lights on the tall trees while Ned and Ted held it steady. Ian and Amy were hanging lights on the shorter trees, and Hamilton and Sinead were putting lights on the bushes.<p>

"The lights are supposed to go this way," said Sinead.

"Sinead, I decorated my house with my family, I know which way the lights go," snapped Hamilton.

"If you knew which way the lights went you'd know you were doing it the wrong way!"

Just a few feet away, Jonah, Ned, and Ted were trying to guess who would win the argument.

"Sinead is going to win," said Ned, "we had this fight with her back at home."

"No way," said Jonah, "Hamilton is not going to lose to a girl, especially an Ekat."

"If you know so much, you do it!" shouted Hamilton.

"Fine!" Sinead yelled back.

As Hamilton backed away he tripped over the lights, lost his balance, and fell into the ladder Jonah was on. Ned and Ted dodged the falling ladder, but Ted bumped into Amy's ladder, and she fell onto Ian. Nellie appeared at the front door.

"What was that big cra… I'll go get the first aid kit," said Nellie.

Nellie went back into the house, and they got everything set back up. Some of the lights had fallen off the trees, so they had a lot of work to do. Amy started to work with Sinead while Hamilton started to work with Ian.

* * *

><p>Madison, Reagan, and Natalie had finished decorating, and had come back to the room Dan was in to see if he was awake yet. They had tied him up with lights, and hung him from the ceiling. They had put duct tape over his mouth so he couldn't yell to anybody. Now he was swinging from the ceiling trying to get down. Nellie walked into the room, not noticing Dan.<p>

"How's it going girls?" she asked.

"Great!" they said.

"Why is Dan hanging from the ceiling?" she asked, finally spotting Dan.

"He wanted to be a part of the decorations, so we made him a part of the decorations," Natalie said innocently.

"Well that was a nice use of lights," said Nellie chuckling a little, "but please get him down."

"Fine," Natalie said sounding annoyed.

* * *

><p>At dinner that night Fiske announced that they would be doing Secret Santas. He said he would explain more after dinner. The adults sat in a different room to eat, so when Fiske left, the kids immediately started talking about the Secret Santas.<p>

While everyone was talking, Dan was aiming a spoon full of mashed potatoes at Natalie. She was looking in the opposite direction of Dan and he had a perfect shot, but it hit Madison instead. Everybody became quiet. Madison whipped one of her rolls in Dan's direction, but he ducked and it hit Ned. Ned flung some food in her direction, but it hit Ian, and after that everyone was flinging food at each other.

The adults came into the room to see what was going on, and the food fight stopped immediately. Fiske said he would tell them about the Secret Santas after they cleaned up.

An hour later, the younger Cahills, Fiske, and Nellie met in the living room.

"Since there are an odd number of you Nellie will be joining you," Fiske explained. "The spending limit is twenty dollars because the whole point of this is to be creative."

"I don't want a twenty dollar gift!" Natalie said. "Only peasants deserve such cheap gifts."

"Nat, calm down. It's not going to kill you." Nellie said trying not to smile.

"It's Natalie!"

Fiske grabbed a hat that had a bunch of folded papers in it. He brought it to each person, and let them take a paper. A few groans went around the room. A few minutes later they went to their rooms. Here is a list of who got who:

Jonah: Nellie

Nellie: Ned

Ian: Ted

Natalie: Hamilton

Amy: Natalie

Dan: Sinead

Sinead: Amy

Ted: Ian

Ned: Dan

Hamilton: Jonah

Reagan: Madison

Madison: Reagan

* * *

><p><strong>Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it. Please tell me if you saw any mistakes. I might not be able to get the next chapter up on Friday, but I'll try.<strong>


	4. Chapter 4

**I'm sooooooo sorry that it has taken me so long to update. I partly blame the Rapid Fire series, and the other part is my laziness. I just finished the chapter today because my dog has been vomiting and pooping all over the place. Anyway happy New Year's Eve! **

**Disclaimer: I don't own the 39 clues**

* * *

><p>Dan, Ned, and Ted were huddled in Dan's room discussing pranks they would play on the younger girls.<p>

"We are so going to die," moaned Ned.

"Dan, are you sure we aren't doing too much?" asked Ted.

"I thought you guys were pros at pranks," said Dan.

"Yeah, but this is two Tomases and a Lucian we're talking about," said Ted.

"They could and would kill us," put in Ned.

"Come on guys. Are we really afraid of a bunch of girls?"

"If they're Cahills, then yes," said Ned.

"Let's just get this over then," said Dan.

They crept out of the room. Everyone else was asleep because it was near midnight. They went into Natalie's room first. They put a bucket full of goo on top of her bed frame, and tied a string to her wrist. As they walked out, Dan tripped over one of Natalie's shoes, and landed with a thud. They all froze. Natalie sat up, and the bucket landed on her, covering her with goo. She jumped out of bed, but she had a mask over her eyes. Dan, Ned, and Ted jumped out of the room, and ran as fast as they could down the hall.

"DANIEL ARTHUR CAHILL! You are DEAD!" Natalie screamed.

All the other Cahills came running out of their rooms to see what was going on. Natalie stomped out of her room, trying to get some of the goo off.

"Natalie, what happened?" asked Nellie.

"What do you think happened?" Natalie snapped.

"I think I'm going to have to go get the first aid kit after you're done with Dan," said Nellie.

"Where is Dan?" asked Amy.

"Probably hiding if he knows what's good for him," replied Jonah.

"Where are Ted and Ned?" asked Sinead.

"If they had anything to do with this they're dead," said Natalie.

"Natalie, why don't you go take a shower, and cool off while we find Dan, Ted, and Ned," said Nellie.

"Fine."

"Dan! Ted! Ned! Come here now!" yelled Nellie.

Ned, Ted, and Dan stumbled out of a closet. They seemed relieved that Natalie wasn't there. Hamilton, Madison, Reagan, and Jonah looked like they were going to burst out laughing at any second. Amy and Sinead were just shaking their heads at them.

"Why would you even think about doing this?" Nellie exploded, very upset about being woken up.

"We can deal with this in the morning. Everyone, just go to bed," Fiske said.

Everyone went to their rooms. Dan, Ned, and Ted didn't dare close their eyes until they were sure Natalie wasn't going to come into their rooms to shoot them with her dart gun.

* * *

><p>At breakfast the next morning nobody really talked because they were lost in thought.<p>

Amy's P.O.V.

_What am I going to get Natalie? A book? No….I'm going to die because I won't get her a present she likes. Calm down, deep breaths, it's the thought that counts right?_

Dan's P.O.V.

_How am I supposed to get the gift I want if it's twenty dollars? Because of that dumb twenty-dollar rule my secret Santa can't get me the new Ninja Warrior video game. _

Natalie's P.O.V.

_I'm going to kill Daniel! He ruined my best pajamas! I wish I was his secret Santa. The things I could do to him…. (_An evil smile forms on Natalie's face.) _Too bad I got Hamilton. On the bright side, I only have to get him a football, or something like that, and he will be happy._

Ian's P.O.V.

_Why is everyone being so quiet? It's not normal for Cahills to be quiet. It's kind of nice. Natalie and Daniel are so crazy lately… Why is Natalie smiling? She's thought of some way to kill Daniel hasn't she? _

Sinead's P.O.V.

_What shall I get Amy for Christmas? I know she loves books, but I can't get her any ordinary book. Why does she have to have so many books? Oh well. I'll think of something eventually. We are best friends after all._

Ted's P.O.V.

_Natalie's going to kill us! I'm sure of it. She has an evil smile on her face, so she must be plotting her revenge. Why did I go along with Dan's prank? At least I already know what I'm getting Ian. Natalie's seriously creepy with that smile._

Ned's P.O.V.

_Wow. I've never noticed how creepy Natalie looks when she smile's like that. She's probably thinking of ways to kill us. It's a good thing she's mostly mad at Dan. Too bad I'm Dan's secret Santa, so I can't let her kill him._

Hamilton's P.O.V.

_Jonah has tons of fans, money, and pretty much anything he wants, so what can I get him? Maybe somebody else knows what he would like. _

Madison's P.O.V.

_I wish I had Dan, Ted, or Ned for this secret Santa thing. I get Reagan a present every year, but it would be so much fun to give them a prank present. At least I don't have to spend a lot of time thinking of what I'm going to get Reagan._

Reagan's P.O.V.

_I wonder what Natalie's planning on doing to Dan, Ted, and Ned. I hope she lets Madison and me help. I'll have a lot of time to help Natalie since I already know what I'm getting Madison._

Nellie's P.O.V.

_What should I get for Ned? He probably wants something that will keep Natalie away from him. She looks like she's going to kill someone with that look on her face. Oh! That reminds me of a song. _(Nellie starts humming.)

Jonah's P.O.V.

_Nellie should be easy to buy a present for. She loves music, and I'm a rapper, so how hard can it be. I wonder what song she's humming. Hmmm… Oh! I get why she picked that song. It's because Natalie wants to kill Dan, Ted, and Ned._

* * *

><p><strong>Sorry it was so short. Hopefully I will update soon. Please tell me if you saw any mistakes. Have a HAPPY New Year! <strong>


	5. Chapter 5

**I am soooo sorry it took me so long to update. It's just that I've had to baby-sit for my siblings a little more, and by the time that's over I'm too tired to write. That and I had a huge test. Anyway enjoy the story!**

**Disclaimer: I will never own the 39 clues **

Amy quietly entered the library. She knew Ian was in there, and that he may be the only way she could live through Christmas. She found Ian sitting on one of the library couches reading A Wrinkle in Time.

"Ian?"

"Yes, Amy," Ian said looking up from his book.

"Do you know what I can get for Natalie's Secret Santa present?"

"I thought we weren't allowed to tell people whose Secret Santa we have."

"We're not, but I would like to live to see my next birthday."

"Sorry, Amy, but Natalie's going to hate anything that you get just because it's twenty dollars. Well….unless you give her Dan, she would enjoy torturing him."

"Thanks anyway," Amy said as she left.

_Amy's P.O.V._

_Well that was a waste of time. _Just then, Dan came running down the hall shooting his Nerf gun. One of the darts hit her in the head. _Although, maybe giving her Dan wouldn't be such a bad idea… No, I couldn't do that to Dan. That's it! Maybe Ian did give me an idea I can use. I better give Dan an extra good present this year. _

Sinead frowned. She was in her bedroom trying to think of a present for Amy, but nothing she thought of seemed good enough for her. How could she call herself Amy's best friend if she couldn't even think of a present for her? Dan was walking past Sinead's bedroom. When he saw her, he stopped.

"Heeeeyyyy, Sinead."

"What do you want?" Sinead asked, not trying to hide her annoyance.

"I kind of accidentally broke Amy's laptop."

"You mean the laptop she keeps in her room so that you won't break it?"

"Yeah, that one. Could you fix it for me since you're such a smart Ekat?"

"Fine, but if you break anything else of hers I won't fix it for you, and you can go show it to Amy."

"Okay," said Dan handing her the laptop.

_Sinead's P.O.V._

_Why does Dan have to be so careless? Last week he ruined Amy's science project that we worked so hard on... That's it! Thank you, Dan!_

_Natalie's P.O.V._

_What color shall I paint my nails? Pink? No. Blue? No. Purple? No. _ Madison and Reagan ran into Natalie's room.

"What do you want?" asked Natalie not too politely.

"We have a great idea on how to get back at Dan," said Reagan.

"What is it?"

Madison looked into the hallway, and then closed the door. Reagan whispered their plan to Natalie.

_Perfect... I'll need to fix a few things in the plan, but for Tomases, that was a pretty good plan. Now which color should I paint my nails? Red? Perfect! _ Just then Saladin jumped onto Natalie's lap.

"Achoo!" Natalie sneezed, "Dumb cat!"

Natalie picked up the cat, and threw him out of the room.

Hamilton knocked on Sinead's bedroom door. As much as he hated it, he had to ask an Ekat for help. Sinead opened the door. She seemed surprised when she saw him.

"What do you want, Hamilton?"

"I was wondering if you could help me figure out what to buy Jonah for his present."

"Sorry, Hamilton, I can't help you right now because I'm busy."

"Doing what?" Hamilton asked while looking behind Sinead.

"Fixing this laptop for Dan."

"Isn't that Amy's laptop?"

"Yes, Dan broke it, and he doesn't want Amy to know."

"And you're not going to tell her?"

"She already knows. She asked me to fix it five minutes before Dan asked me." Sinead said laughing.

"Do you need any help? I'm pretty good with computers, and living with my dad, I fix ours a lot."

"Sure," she said shrugging, "hopefully we'll finish soon, so I can get started on the present I'm giving."

"Speaking of Secret Santas, do you know what I could get Jonah?"

Natalie, Reagan, and Madison were at the mall. They had to get a few things for the Dan plan. Also, Natalie remembered that they still hadn't gotten back at Ned and Ted, so they had to buy a few extra things for that plan too.

"How about some of these?" asked Madison holding up a talking baby doll.

"How on earth could we use that?" asked Natalie.

"I have an idea, but we're going to have to make some changes to the doll," said Reagan.

After making a few more stops at different stores, they called Nellie to pick them up.

The girls entered the car with a lot of bags, and a few boxes. Nellie had brought the SUV, so they were just a little squished by all the stuff.

It was not long after lunch that Natalie, Reagan, and Madison started redecorating Ted and Ned's rooms. Ned and Ted had gone to buy gifts, so they wouldn't be back for a while… hopefully.

"Are you sure this will work?" asked Madison doodling on one of the baby-doll's faces.

"Of course it will work," replied Natalie stuffing a new recorder in another baby-doll's back.

"I wish we could video tape their reactions," said Reagan taping a baby-doll behind the door.

They continued doing this to the baby-dolls for another half hour. They walked out of the Ned's room, and almost walked right into Jonah. Jonah was holding a pink, rectangular object in his hands.

"What were you doing in Ned's room?" asked Jonah suspiciously.

"What are you doing with Nellie's Ipod?" asked Natalie recognizing the object.

"This meeting never happened," said Jonah.

"Agreed," Natalie said.

"Ha…ha…ha, ha…ha," laughed a creepy voice.

_Ted's P.O.V._

_What was that? _ He sat up and waited for a little bit, but nothing happened. _I must be imagining things. _He laid back down, and saw two glowing eyes staring back at him.

"Aaaaaahhhhhh!" screamed Ted.

Ned's P.O.V.

"Aaaaaahhhhhh!" Ned heard a scream. _That sounded like Ted. _He got out of his bed, and tripped over a crawling object. He picked it up.

"You're going to die!" shouted the little doll.

"Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!" screamed Ned tumbling backwards over his bed.

While Ned and Ted were freaking out about their new roommates, the rest of the Cahills were in the hallway trying to figure out what was going on.

"What is going on?" asked Nellie who had come out of her room carrying the first aid kit.

"That's what the rest of us would like to know," said Eisenhower.

Ted's handle began to shake crazily, and then Ned's handle started shaking crazily. The Cahills noticed two bars underneath the handles, so the doors wouldn't open. Eisenhower went over to get the bars.

"No!" shouted Madison and Reagan.

"They haven't suffered enough," said Natalie.

"You realize you guys just admitted that you were behind this right?" asked Nellie.

"You were going to figure it out sooner or later anyway," said Natalie.

Ted was freaking out. The creepy baby things were jumping out everywhere, and he couldn't get the bedroom door to open.

"You're my best friend!" shouted a baby doll that was missing an eye.

Ted kicked it away, and started banging on the door.

"This is what you get for messing with Natalie!" said one of the baby dolls.

"Open the door!" he shouted to whoever might be listening.

Ned never wanted to see another baby doll in his life. The baby dolls were creepy. Some were missing eyes, and others had creepy mustaches.

"Don't mess with Natalie ever again," said one the baby dolls.

Ned was pounding the door as hard as he could.

"Alright, girls, it's time to let the boys out," said Nellie.

The doors were opened, and Ned and Ted ran out of the rooms as fast as they could.

"What did you do to them?" asked Sinead worriedly.

"I think you guys got a little too carried away with the prank," said Hamilton.

"No way!" said Reagan.

Nobody had noticed that a little baby doll had crawled out of Ned's room.

"I'm going to get you!" shouted the baby doll.

Everybody jumped when they saw and heard the baby.

"Maybe a little," admitted the girls.

**So how did you like the chapter? Yeah the baby doll thing came from my baby sister's baby doll. The baby doll is running low on batteries, so it sounds really creepy when it laughs. Please review! **


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey guys! Yeah I know its been forever. I have a lot of excuses, like bad colds, baby-sitting siblings, bad colds again… You get the idea. Anyway I'm very sorry. Now on with the story!**

* * *

><p><em>Natalie's P.O.V.<em>

_Ahh…It's so nice to lay down in bed again. _

The Cahills had to stay up for an extra 30 minutes so that they could clean up the baby doll mess, because the baby dolls were keeping everyone up. As they were cleaning up, Dan had told Ned and Ted that he would get back at Natalie for the prank. _It's so funny that Daniel actually thinks that he could ever prank me._

_Bzzzz… Bzzzz… What is that? Bzzzz..._ Natalie opened her eyes. Dan was shaving off her hair. She tried to scream, but something was covering her mouth. She started flailing her arms and hit something. Suddenly, everything went dark, and Natalie opened her eyes to find that it was only a dream. _Thank goodness… Why do I have duct tape over my mouth, and what did I hit? _Natalie looked down to find Dan holding one of his eyes with one hand, and a permanent marker in his other hand.

Natalie took the duct tape off of her mouth, and screamed, "DANIEL ARTHUR CAHILL, I am going to kill you!"

She turned on her light, took out her little mirror she kept by her bed, and checked her face to make sure it looked as beautiful as it did when she had gone to bed. The other Cahills rushed into the room.

"What happened this time?" asked a very exhausted Sinead.

"This git was trying to color on my face!" Natalie shouted.

"But I didn't." said Dan.

"Only because I punched you!" said Natalie.

"Wow, Natalie, you really hit him hard," said Nellie who probably wanted to do the same thing.

"There's not too much damage, so let's just go to bed and not cause any more disturbances," said Fiske.

"If one more person wakes me up over a dumb prank, I'm going to kill someone." said Nellie.

Natalie picked up a dart gun that she had hidden under her pillow and shot Dan.

"Natalie, why did you do that?" asked Amy.

"It's just a poison that will make him sleep for a few hours. I don't want to worry about him trying to do something like that again."

"Hamilton, please bring Dan to his room," Fiske sighed.

Everyone went to bed, and everything was calm for the rest of the night (actually morning).

* * *

><p><em>Nellie's P.O.V.<em>

_Last night was ridiculous. Not only did I not get any sleep, but I'm also the one who has to make everyone breakfast. _

"_And now you're talking to yourself," said a little voice inside her head._

"_I'm not talking to myself!" _

"_Yes, you are."_

"_No, I'm not."_

"_And now you're arguing with yourself."_

"_Oh shut it or I'll..."_

"_You can't threaten yourself." _

"_I can tell myself whatever I want to tell you, I mean myself. This conversation is getting very confusing."_

"_I agree."_

"_Let's stop."_

"_You do realize that you're still talking to yourself, even if you're talking to yourself like you're talking to someone else."_

"_Okay… I'm just going to listen to some music."_

Nellie started going through the songs on her Ipod. _Jonah's latest song starts playing. What! When did I get that song? I'll have to delete it later. What the….Half of my music is missing! I'm so going to kill whoever did this!_

"Hey, Nellie, when is breakfast going to be done? I'm starving," Jonah said as he walked into the kitchen.

"It'll be done in a minute. Do you know what happened to my Ipod?"

"Y-your Ipod? No, I have no idea what happened to it." Jonah said nervously.

"You deleted some of the songs on my Ipod, didn't you?" accused Nellie.

"N-no, I didn't."

"You're a very bad liar, Jonah," said Nellie walking towards him.

"It was an accident," said Jonah walking backwards.

"What did I tell you about messing with my Ipod?" asked Nellie.

Jonah made a run for the door, but Nellie was too fast for him. She pounced on him, tackled him onto the kitchen floor, and knocked down a bag of flour in the process.

"Ouch!" yelled Jonah.

"Why did you touch my Ipod?" Nellie asked as she pinned him to the floor.

Some of the Cahills that were awake ran into the kitchen, to see a flour covered Nellie on top of a flour covered Jonah.

"What happened?" asked Amy.

"Get her off of me!" Jonah begged.

Hamilton, Reagan, and Madison ran over, and started taking Nellie off of Jonah. It took all three of them just to keep her off of him. Finally Natalie shot her in the shoulder with her dart gun. Nellie slumped to the floor, and the Holt kids carried her to her room.

"Thanks, guys, I thought she was really going to kill me," said Jonah.

"What was that all about anyway?" asked Sinead.

Before he could answer Fiske ran into the room.

"What happened?" asked Fiske.

"Nellie has finally lost her mind," Dan said.

"I suppose I'll go to the bakery down the street to buy some muffins for breakfast," sighed Fiske.

"And some doughnuts?" asked Dan hopefully.

"We'll see," said Fiske.

Fiske left to get the breakfast, and the Cahills went back to whatever they had been doing before.

* * *

><p><strong>Sorry, I had a little bit of writer's block on this chapter. The dream Natalie had actually came from a dream I had. <strong>

**My dream: I go into the bathroom and I see my 11 year old brother shaving off my 5 year old sister's hair.**

**Yeah I have weird dreams. Anyway I'll update as soon as I can. **


	7. Chapter 7

**Sorry it took me so long to update. I just found this really good book series, and you know how it is when you have a book that you can't put down, right? Okay here's the chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the 39 clues**

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Finally it was Christmas Eve. Nellie was making a special dinner, she hadn't talked to Jonah since the kitchen incident. Fiske was sitting in the living room, looking at the Christmas tree. Dan ran into the room and dove behind the tree.

"Dan, what are you doing?" asked Fiske.

"Sssshhhh," said Dan.

Fiske was about to ask again, when Natalie ran into the room holding her dart gun.

"Have you seen Dan?" she asked.

"Why?"

"So you did see him," said Natalie.

"Yes, I did see him," replied Fiske.

"Well, where is he!" asked Natalie starting to lose her patience.

"I'm afraid I can't tell you that."

Natalie looked like she was about to throw a major tantrum, but she quickly composed herself and left.

"Thanks, Uncle Fiske," said Dan coming out from behind the Christmas tree.

"Dan, what did you do to Natalie?"

"That's not important. When are we going to put the presents under the tree?"

"After dinner everyone can put their presents under the tree," Fiske answered.

Just then Nellie shouted, "Dinner!"

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

The Cahill kids were sitting at a long table in the dining room eating their dinner. Everyone was trying to find out who was whose Secret Santa.

"Whose my Secret Santa," asked Natalie, "I want to know what poison I should prepare for the disappointment of the present I will open."

Amy tried hard not to get upset or look scared after that comment. If Natalie found out she was her Secret Santa, she might throw the present away before even opening it. As long as Natalie was curious enough to see who her present was from she would open it. Like they say, curiosity killed the cat.

"Fine, you don't have to tell me who my Secret Santa is, but at least tell me it's not the git, Thing One, or Thing 2," said Natalie. She received glares from Dan, Ted, and Ned.

"Natalie, nobody is allowed to find out who their Secret Santa is, so stop trying," said Sinead.

After that, dinner was quiet. Everybody was thinking about how much their gift receivers would like their presents.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Everyone had just finished putting their presents under the tree. Before Natalie had a chance to search for her present, Fiske said that nobody was allowed to go into the living room until Christmas morning.

The first person to break the rule was Amy. Fiske had set an alarm to go off whenever someone entered the room. When the alarm went off, everyone rushed to see what was going on. What they found was a confused Amy holding a book she had left in the room earlier. Fiske sighed and reset the alarm.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

The Cahill kids gathered in the theater room to watch a Chistmas movie. Dan wouldn't stop talking about Amy breaking the rule.

"I just can't believe my sister, the "goody-goody", would break such a simple rule!" Dan said for about the tenth time.

"Daniel, stop talking before I shoot you with a poison that will make you sleep for two years," said Natalie.

"They have a poison that will do that?" asked Amy obviously thinking about how great that would be to have.

"Yes, but only certain Lucians can have it," said Ian, "Natalie is not supposed to be one of those Lucians."

"Why not?" asked Hamilton.

"Because Natalie doesn't know how to shoot her gun well enough," replied Ian.

"What?" asked everyone surprised.

"Yes, she kept 'accidentally' shooting her Lucian teachers," Ian explained, saying the word accidentally to show that it was clearly not an accident.

Everyone moved farther away from Natalie. She smirked and turned her attention back to the movie.

Later, Dan had a bathroom break. During this break he snuck into the living room, which, because of Amy, he knew had an alarm. He also knew how to turn off the alarm. (He had watched Fiske.) When he went inside, Nellie jumped out at him from behind the Christmas tree.

"Boo!" shouted Nellie.

"Aaaahhhhh!" screamed Dan.

He fell backwards, and hit a table that held a vase on it. The vase crashed to the ground, and shattered into a million pieces. At the sound of the glass shattering, everyone rushed to the living room.

"What happened?" asked Amy, but before anyone could answer she saw Dan and the broken vase and said, "Never mind."

"Nellie, why were you behind the Christmas tree!" Dan asked angrily.

"I figured one of you guys would come in here to find your present so I thought it would be funny to scare whoever did," replied Nellie.

"Well it wasn't funny!" shouted Dan.

"Alright, that's enough." said Fiske, "Since I can't trust you to stay on the first floor and not go into the living room, you are all under bedroom arrest."

"What!" cried the Holt twins.

"But that isn't fair to the rest of us!" said Ned.

"I'm sorry, but this is the way it has to be," said Fiske, "Nellie will stand guard outside your bedroom doors. Now go to your rooms."

As everybody trudged to the stairs, Natalie injected a poison into Nellie's arm. Fortunately for Natalie, nobody noticed.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Reagan and Madison were sitting on their beds holding boxes covered with wrapping paper. They were waiting for Natalie to let them know when Nellie was unconscious.

"Reagan, make sure you have your camera ready tomorrow," said Madison, "I can't wait to see Ned and Ted's faces."

"I will," replied Reagan, "this is going to be one of the funniest pranks we've pulled yet."

There was a soft knocking on the door, and then it was pushed open without making one creak. Natalie entered the room, and peered around for bugs. She didn't find any, so she began to talk quietly.

"Are the presents ready?" asked Natalie.

"Of course they are," said Reagan showing her the present she was holding.

"We must hurry. The poison will only last half an hour," said Natalie.

The three hurried into the hallway and down the stairs hardly making any sounds. They passed the adults in the den watching a football game while playing some sort of card game. Then they made it to the living room. The twins watched Natalie deactivate the alarm.

"Now, you two have to break the locks on the doors." said Natalie, "The locks Fiske used are very high security, and require a special tool to pick them. They are made of a very strong material, do you think you can break them without causing too much damage."

"Definitely," said the twins together.

Using all their arm strength they broke the locks. There was a sharp snap, and they looked around to see if anyone heard them. Nobody came, so the girls entered the living room. They tiptoed to the tree, and placed the presents underneath, making sure to show Ned and Ted's names on the nametags.

"Mission accomplished," said Madison, and all the girls high-fived.

The girls snuck back into their rooms each thinking about what Christmas would be like the next day.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

**So what did you think? You can let me know in a review. **


	8. Chapter 8

**Hey everybody I'm back! (Awkward silence) I'm sorry it's taken me so long to update! I do have some excuses if you're interested in hearing them. In the time from when I last updated to now I've had writer's block, my mom had a baby (he is sooo cute!), we sold our house, my brothers and one of my sisters have a lot of soccer games, and I found a really good book series! (Check out ****The Adventures of Cat Royal****.) Anyway I am sooo sorry, and I will have the next chapter up before January…probably. Thank you awesome reviewers! Have some Christmas cookies! Special thanks to ****Readinfreak3546 for reminding me that I hadn't updated in so long! I hope this chapter doesn't disappoint you guys! (Italics are what the people are thinking.)**

**Disclaimer: I still don't own the 39 clues.**

**-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

Finally it was Christmas morning. Dan woke up and jumped out of bed. He might be spending his Christmas with the Cobras, but it was still Christmas. Out of habit he went to Amy's room. He opened up the door, and jumped on her bed. She jolted awake, and kicked him off of her bed.

"Dan, it's five in the morning! Couldn't you have waited until six thirty?"

"No, and I saw Reagan and Madison heading over to Hamilton's room. He should be up in a minute." Just then they heard a loud thud. "Or maybe he's up now."

"Fine, just let me brush my hair."

"Whatever," replied Dan walking out of the room.

As he was walking to the stairs, he heard a scream come from Sinead's room. Everybody in the house must have heard the scream, because everybody ran to that room.

"Ned and Ted I'm going to kill you!" shouted Sinead.

Her hair was sticking in all directions. Apparently, Ted and Ned had shocked her to wake her up.

"Really guys?" asked Nellie, "You couldn't just poor water on her like normal people?"

Sinead gave her a dirty look. Amy paled and said, "Well don't give them any ideas!"

"Nellie, you of all people should know that Cahills aren't normal people," said Ted.

Before a fight could break out, Fiske suggested they go downstairs to the living room.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Because everyone was arguing about who got to open a present first, Fiske suggested that they all open the presents together, starting with the Secret Santa presents. If the Cahills were normal this plan would have worked out fine, but as it is well known, Cahills are not normal.

This is what happened.

_Nellie's P.O.V._

"_Regular school day, Dan won't get up unless you poor a bucket of water on his head, Christmas and he wakes me up at five in the morning! Maybe I should just tell him its Christmas every day. My Secret Santa better have gotten me something good or waking up this early was pointless." _

Nellie opened up her present to find an Ipod. This was from Jonah, and reminded her of what he did to her other Ipod.

"_That little…" _She threw it on the chair and tackled Jonah who screamed like a girl! Jonah didn't even get to appreciate his present from Hamilton.

_Jonah's P.O.V._

"_This is the craziest Christmas ever! I can totally write a song about this! I am the best Secret Santa ever! I mean sure, I may have done some things to Nellie's Ipod that I probably shouldn't have, but after Nellie gets her present the Ipod fiasco will all be forgotten."_

Jonah opened his present. It was a book of Shakespeare poems! _"H-dawg is the best!" _Jonah was just about to get up and thank Hamilton, when Nellie jumped on top of him!

"Aaaaagggghhhhh!" followed by a thought, _"I'm going to ruin my vocal cords!"_

_Dan's P.O.V._

"_It's a good thing I forgot to go shopping until yesterday, and am Sinead's Secret Santa. My video game was on sale! And because Sinead likes boring things, she'll love that boring five-dollar puzzle I got her."_

Dan opened his present from Ned. He found a box wrapped neatly in wrapping paper that was addressed to Natalie. He looked up at Ned, who nodded his head toward Natalie. Just then Nellie tackled Jonah. While Natalie was distracted, he put the present in her pile.

_Natalie's P.O.V._

Natalie got the best present ever. There was a little metal device about as big as a ladybug, and a voice controlled remote.

A note said:

_Dear Natalie, _

_This is an invention that Sinead made so that we can better control our brothers. I asked her to let you borrow it for the rest of the time you are here. Sorry, Natalie, but I don't think it would be a good idea to actually let you own one. I hope you like the present. Merry Christmas! _

_Love, _

_Amy_

Natalie smiled scarily. "_I guess I'll have to thank that colorblind peasant after all_." Just then Nellie tackled Jonah. "_Thank goodness I picked a seat far away from them_." She reached for the next present, and opened it. Goo flung into her face. She dropped the present and screamed.

_Ian's P.O.V._

Ian's present was some sort of earplug thing with a remote from Ted. He looked down at the note.

It read, "_Dear cousin, what may look like simple earplugs are really very high tech, sound muting devices. I've already recorded all of our family members' voices. All you have to do is type the name into the remote and the earplugs will mute that particular person's voice. Pretty awesome, isn't it? Merry Christmas! –Ted"_

Nellie tackled Jonah. He shoved the earplugs into his ears, and typed in Nellie and Jonah's names. Just then some green substance flew onto Natalie's face. She opened her mouth, but Ian typed in her name before anything could come out. He didn't hear a thing.

"_This is the best present ever!"_

A purple ball came out of nowhere and hit…

"_This day is not going to end well."_

_Ned's P.O.V._

"_Shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot._ _Why did I give Dan that prank present for Natalie? She's going to poison me for sure… or maybe Ted since she can't tell us apart. But then Sinead will kill me for letting Natalie poison Ted for something I did." _Ned looked up to see Ted looking at him. By the look on Ted's face Ned could tell that Ted knew what he had done, and had come to the same conclusion. As Ned opened his first present he was thinking to himself, "_Please, oh please don't let Natalie kill me."_

Ned was relieved to see a vial with a card that read, _"This is an antidote that can save you from the most probable poison Natalie will give you. Ian gave me this, but don't worry, I'm ninety-nine percent sure it will work, Nellie."_

Nellie tackled Jonah in a very painful way, but what made Ned wince was when Natalie screamed. He clutched his vial tightly. Just then a soccer ball flew through the air and hit…

"_And I thought giving that prank present to Natalie was bad."_

_Ted's P.O.V._

"_Ned is such an idiot! If Natalie poisons me because she thinks I'm Ned, I'll kill him!" _

Ted opened his present and found a vial. A note inside said, _"This is an antidote for the most probable poison Natalie would use on you if she was mad. There would have been more, but the tone-deaf babysitter insisted that you would want your brother to have some too. I think she was just too lazy to get him a gift. Ian"_

"_Thank you, Ian!"_

Nellie tackled Jonah almost making Ted drop his vial. Not even a minute later Natalie was screaming because of the goo on her face. Then Ted noticed the soccer ball flying through the air. It hit…

"_That's not good."_

_Hamilton's P.O.V._

Hamilton opened up his present, and found a football signed by Brett Favre, from Natalie.

"_Yes! This is so awesome! The twins are going to be so jealous!" _Just then Nellie tackled Jonah! Hamilton placed his football out of harms way, then jumped in to help Jonah. Hamilton looked up when Natalie screamed to see what was wrong, but it wasn't Natalie's goo covered face that made him gasp; it was a purple soccer ball's target.

_Amy's P.O.V._

"_What have I done?! Giving Natalie that invention was a horrible idea! Fiske is going to kill me when he finds out what I did. Poor Dan, I hope that new goo blaster I gave him will make up for what Natalie is going to do to him. Oh well, I might as well open up my present." _

Amy opened up her present to find what looked like a pad lock. She read the note that came with it.

_Dear Amy,_

_This isn't a normal padlock. It's a lock that takes a finger scan to unlock it. Also if anybody that's not you tries to get through it, it will shock him or her. I got the idea while fixing your laptop! This technically counts as a twenty dollar or under gift because the lock was ten dollars and I already had the other stuff that I needed to make it. _

_Merry Christmas,_

_Sinead_

"_Oh, this is the best present ever!" _

Of course Amy's happy thoughts didn't last for long. Nellie tackled Jonah, Hamilton jumped up to help Jonah, and just as Amy got up Natalie started screaming because goo had flung into her face from a prank gift. That wasn't the worst of it though. The worst part was when a purple soccer ball hit…

_Sinead's P.O.V._

"_Yay, Amy likes her present! Now to see what I got." _Sinead opened up her (very messily wrapped) present to find a 30 pc. Puzzle. "_30 pieces?! I could do a 60 pc. puzzle when I was five years old! This is insulting!" _

Sinead read the card that came with it. She noticed that the handwriting looked rushed, like someone waited until the last minute to write it.

_Dear __**Sinead**_

_I hop you like your _**puzzle. I **_**know it was only five **_**dollars **but you wouldnt _believe what __**happened to the other money. **__I was walking around the mall when a __**group of ninjas jumped out of nowere and attacked **__me. I fought back but they stole 15 dollars. _**I had to find something that was five **_**dolars and that's what i found.**_

Dan__the awesome ninja

"_Well he was right, I don't believe what he said happened to the money." _Nellie jumped on top of Jonah, Hamilton tried to intervene, Amy got up, and Natalie screamed. Sinead looked at Natalie, she had goo all over her face. "_Ned and Ted better not of had anything to do with that!" _Then a purple soccer ball hit…

"_Oh no!"_

_Reagan's P.O.V. _

"_I can't wait for Ned and Ted to open their prank presents!" _Reagan opened her present and found purple ballet shoes. "_No way! This can't be that hundred dollar pair I wanted could it?_"

The note said: "Merry Christmas, Reagan! I saw these shoes and knew they were that hundred dollar pair you wanted. You wouldn't believe how I got them for twenty dollars!

Madison

P.S. I think the blood on the toe part of the left shoe will come out after a while.

Just then Nellie tackled Jonah. Reagan turned towards Madison to see if she was going to help Hamilton get them apart, and she noticed her sister getting ready to kick the soccer ball she got her. Natalie screamed, and the ball went sailing right at…

"Uh oh," said Reagan.

_Madison's P.O.V._

"_I can't wait for Ned and Ted to open their prank presents!" _Madison ripped the wrapping paper off of her present and found a purple soccer-ball with a picture of a moose on it, from Reagan. Just then Nellie tackled Jonah. Madison aimed her ball at them, and was just about to kick it when Natalie screamed. Distracted she kicked it in another direction and it hit…

"Oops!" said Madison.

**-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**

**What is the ball going to hit?! Even I'm not completely sure yet. Sorry, this is my attempt at a cliffhanger. You see, I was originally going to make this my last chapter, but as I was writing it I discovered it was getting to long. I had gotten all the way to Madison's P.O.V. when all of a sudden that soccer ball idea was there. I love when I'm writing and the story just starts to write itself. **

**Sorry if you found this chapter confusing. I had some of my family members read it before I posted it, and they said it was confusing. If you have any questions you can PM me or review the story and I will answer them as soon as I can. And I wasn't trying to make Dan sound dumb, the spelling mistakes were just the mistakes anybody makes when trying to rush a letter or note. **

**Sorry for the long author's note! **

**~NatalieKfan **


	9. Chapter 9

** So I'm a little late, two years to be exact, in updating my story, but I finally came back. I just finished this today, and I can't write a long Author's note explaining my absence because I have to go to bed soon. Sorry for the delay! And thank you Breanne Nedra for reviewing my story! I really appreciated your advice! Also, sorry for the lack of line-page dividers, took them away when I uploaded it, and I don't have time to put them back in.**

* * *

><p>Madison's P.O.V.<p>

"_I can't wait for Ned and Ted to open their prank presents_!" Madison ripped the wrapping paper off of her present and found a purple soccer ball with a picture of a moose on it from Reagan. Just then, Nellie tackled Jonah. Madison aimed her ball at them and was just about to kick it, when Natalie screamed. Distracted, she hit it in another direction, and it hit…

"Oops!" said Madison.

The ball flew through the air at what seemed the speed of light. It crashed right into Fiske, who just so happened to be drinking a cup of coffee at the time. He dropped his mug, and its contents splashed right onto the outlet that the Christmas tree was plugged into. A spark leapt from the outlet, and it landed on one of the Christmas tree's ribbons setting it aflame. After this, complete chaos ensued.

"You have to smother it!" shouted Eisenhower as he UFC tackled the tree to the ground. He didn't notice that Alistair was on the other side, but he did hear Alistair's painful yell as his arm snapped in two places.

Eisenhower's attempt to put out the fire only caused the ribbon to fly through the air and land on Hamilton's greasy faux-hawk. Hamilton jumped up from Nellie and Jonah's struggle and accidentally dropped the ribbon onto a nearby curtain. Hamilton ran recklessly around the room trying to put out the fire in his hair.

The number of things on fire was increasing at an exponential rate. Amy tipped the chair she had been sitting on upside down and grabbed the fire extinguisher underneath. She had to keep it there because if Dan knew that they had one he would probably figure out how to start a fire with it. Her first priority, of course, was Hamilton's head, but she couldn't get him to stand still long enough.

"Madison! Reagan!" Amy shouted. Instantly, Madison and Reagan slammed Hamilton to the ground. Amy put the fire out then moved on to the curtains that were now engulfed in flame and had passed on some of the fire to the cloth covered couch sitting underneath them.

Amy wasn't the only one who was busy, but she was the only one who was doing something to stop the fire. Natalie, paying little attention to the commotion around her, was scratching vigorously at the goo on her face which had hardened and would not come off. Jonah was hyperventilating (which wasn't smart considering the room was filled with smoke) because his voice had stopped working after he screamed. Ian, realizing that he couldn't know what was going on if he couldn't hear, tried to turn off his ear plug things. He pressed a button and a deafening, earsplitting, screeching clamor resounded in his ears. Ian went cross-eyed and keeled over. Dan, who had wrapped his ninja warrior video game up as a present for himself, was tearing through everybody's presents because he couldn't find it. Sinead noticed his franticness and logically reasoned that he was looking for a gift for himself. She also noticed that in her pile of presents there was a gift marked, "To, Dan; From, Sinead." She ripped it open, found the game, and then she stuffed it under a couch cushion. Nellie had stopped wrestling Jonah when Hamilton ran away screaming, but she just sat in shock and stared at all the chaos that had taken place in the last five minutes.

"Nellie, get another fire extinguisher. Eisenhower, pick that tree back up. Mary-Todd, help Alistair. Sinead, call 911. Everybody get out of the living room now!" Fiske shouted out orders like a drill sergeant.

"Madison," Reagan yelled to her twin. "We have to get the prank presents! They'll get ruined in the fire."

The Holt twins ran to Ned's and Ted's piles and snatched up the presents. They would just hide them in a closet somewhere and give them to the boys later. Before they could do that, however, they both tripped over two crawling teenage boys. The girls fell face first into the presents soaking themselves and swallowing some of the liquid.

"No, no, no, no, no!" shouted Reagan.

"What on earth is going on?" asked Ted.

"Don't you guys know that you're supposed to crawl when there is a fire so that you don't breathe in the smoke?" questioned Ned.

"F-forget breathing in smoke," replied Madison as she began to tremble and shake on the ground. "We just got poisoned by your prank..." she did not get to finish her sentence, however, because she began to vomit. It didn't take Reagan long to start showing the same symptoms as her sister.

"Hold on, hold on," said Ned grinning widely despite the pitiable sight before him. "You mean to tell us that you guys just poisoned yourselves with the presents you were going to use to poison us?"

"Yes," groaned Madison and Reagan.

"Not to add to your suffering or anything, but you two realize that you totally deserved that, right?" asked Ted.

Ned and Ted would have continued torturing them, but both Madison and Reagan were incapable of walking and the fire was still spreading. With all the strength that they could muster, the boys dragged the Holt girls out of the living room and into the hallway.

"Was the poison, by any chance, number 10214?" inquired Ted.

"How did you know?" gasped Reagan before she puked again on his shoes.

Ted shuddered and slipped them off. "Well, as it turns out, we just so happen to have the antidote."

"If you promise not to try to prank us for the rest of the reunion, we will give it to you," Ned negotiated.

Madison and Reagan didn't really have a choice, so they agreed. Ted and Ned started to open the vials when, all of a sudden, a flood of firefighters pushed past them into the living room. Their jostling caused both vials to fall to the ground and shatter. Both girls slumped to the ground defeated, and the boys ran away before the girls could muster the strength to strangle them.

Finally, everybody had been safely guided out of the house by the firefighters. Everything was quiet for exactly one minute and twenty-four seconds (Sinead counted). Of course, all good things must come to an end.

"This is all your fault, Daniel! I know you were behind it!" accused Natalie still scratching at her green face.

Dan began to back up, but Natalie was too fast. She whipped out her dart gun and ran towards him for a better shot. She tripped over a rock hidden by the snow and fell against Dan knocking them both onto the ice of a pond in the front yard. The ice cracked, and they both fell in.

The firefighters rescued Dan and Natalie. Then Alistair, Hamilton, Reagan, Madison, Ian, Natalie, Dan, and Jonah (who insisted that his loss of voice really was an emergency) were all taken to the hospital in ambulances. The rest of the Cahills just stood on the front lawn dumbfounded.

The police, who decided that this was an attempted robbery gone wrong no matter how Fiske tried to explain otherwise, told the Cahills that the mansion was off limits until after New Year's Day for "safety reasons." They weren't even allowed to go in for a change of clothes or shoes.

"So what do we do now?" asked Amy shivering in the freezing air.

"I say that we should go get some breakfast at that new café that just opened," said Nellie already over what happened earlier.

"Well you all can do whatever, but all three of my children are in the hospital on Christmas and I'm not about to let them spend the holiday alone," said Mary-Todd, "I'm going to the hospital."

"I don't know how you guys intend to go anywhere," said Sinead as if the idea was completely ridiculous. The problem should have been obvious, but everybody was a little slow that morning. They all just looked at her curiously.

"You will go to jail for trespassing if you enter the house, but the only way to drive anywhere is to get the keys that are inside."

"Oh," everybody sighed collectively.

"It's only a mile to the Pace bus stop, and they still do their same hours on Christmas. The next bus comes in twenty minutes," Amy said.

Neighbors looking out their windows thought the Cahills had reached an all new level of crazy. Not only had they brought fire trucks, police cars, and ambulances to their house at five in the morning on Christmas Day; but now they decided it was the perfect time to go for a run in their pajamas and some without shoes!

Some of the Cahills were starting to get frostbite, they were all out of breath, and they looked like they had just escaped from a mental hospital; but they had made it to the bus stop with only a minute to spare. However, when the bus did come, the driver took one look at them and kept on going. That was the last straw for Eisenhower. He ran after the bus and banged on its sides until the driver finally gave up and stopped. The Cahills all got on, and charged the fee to Amy's bus card. Finally, something was working out for them.

The Cahills on the bus go round and round.

The Cahills' first stop was the hospital, where they found everybody, but Jonah, in intensive care.

"Thank goodness you dawgs got here," Jonah whisper-yelled, "Please explain to my hospital homies over here why losing my voice is an emergency." The old lady nurse standing next to him rolled her eyes.

"Jonah, we have bigger problems than your lack of voice, right now," Amy sighed.

Jonah huffed and walked dejectedly to a chair in the far corner. His dad followed him over there to console him. Mary-Todd and Eisenhower went to find their children, Sinead asked the nurse about Alistair's room, and Amy decided to check on Dan and the Kabras. While they were gone, Fiske made an interesting arrangement with the hospital. He rented their cafeteria so the Cahills could enjoy a Christmas brunch together without the sick and injured leaving the hospital. Suffice to say, the Cahills didn't think very highly of this idea when they found out.

Eisenhower had pushed all of the cafeteria tables together to form a giant table. Fiske sat at the head of the table since he was the leader of the family. Amy sat on his right with Dan right beside her, and Alistair sat on his left with one of his arms in a sling. Next on Alistair's side came Eisenhower and Mary-Todd who faced their children. Hamilton's head, which was completely bald **(not a great mental picture, I know)**, was wrapped in a white bandage. Madison and Reagan's faces were green and they looked like they could puke at any moment. Unwillingly, Ted and Ned sat next to the girls because Sinead decided that they deserved it for shocking her earlier and pranking Natalie. Sinead sat across from them and glared disapprovingly any time they moved an inch. Jonah and his dad were seated next to her. Finally, across from the Wizards, the Kabras glared at the rest of the people at the table blaming them for all of their misfortunes.

This was nowhere near how Fiske had wanted the Cahills to spend their Christmas together. When he said so his voice cracked as if the weight from the family on his shoulders had reached an unbearable point. Amy, as second in command of the family, voiced her opinion on the matter.

"Uncle Fiske, it really hasn't been that bad." The whole table looked at her in shock, except for Ian who asked her to repeat what she said.

"No, really, think about it," Amy tried to reason, "somebody could have gotten a concussion or worse, or the house could have burned down…again."

"Yeah," said Sinead trying to help Amy, "And this will be the most memorable Christmas."

Everybody began to agree and tell their favorite memories. The arrival of the family members, the announcement of the secret santas, the food fights, and even the trip to the hospital.

"Honestly, I would rather be here at this disgusting table than bored to death at our mansion in England," admitted Natalie to everybody's astonishment.

Seeing everybody so happy and together completely lifted the weight of Fiske's shoulders. This is all that he had wanted. Sensing that Fiske was about to start a long boring speech, Dan did the only thing he knew how. He caused some more chaos. He picked up his, whatever it was they served at the cafeteria, and he chucked it at Eisenhower. After a moment's pause, everybody was throwing food. They may not be the perfect family, but they were still a family. This had been the perfect Christmas.

With that last thought, Natalie suddenly realized something. Christmas was almost over, and she hadn't pranked Dan. She knew what she had to do, but she didn't know how much time she had to do it. Instantly, she began to put the plan together…

* * *

><p><strong>The end is only the beginning! LOL! I promise that I will finish that thought later, but I won't give you a date for that. You've seen how good I am about that. Anyway, I have not proofread, but my mom is going to kill me if I don't go to bed right now! Merry Christmas! <strong>


End file.
